Method of making depressed letters or designs in metal for signs



(No Model.) 4

J. P. .GLULEY.

METHOD OF MAKING DEPRESSED LETTERS 0R DESIGNS IN METAL FOR SIGNS;

N.0.259,-097.' Patented June6, 1882.

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JOHN F. OLULEY, F PITTSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA FilETl-lQD OF MAKING DEPRESSEDLETTERS DESIGNS lll METAL FOR SIGNS.

SPECIFIfiATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 259,097, dated June 6,1882. Application fileil January 28,-l882. No model.)

To all whom it may concern 'Be it known that l, JOHN F. CLULEY, ofPittsburg,county of Allegheny, State of Pennsylvania, have invented ordiscovered it new and useful Improvement in the Method of Mahin gDepressed. Letters or Designs in Metal for Signs; anal I do herebydeclare the following to he a. full, clear, concise, and exactdescription thereof.

My present invention relates to the manufacture of metal signs of thatclass in which 'a seat for the letter, or of the shape of the letter orother character, as u monogram or design of nnydesired kind, is made bythe use of acids.

Such signs are usuullymade on a plate or sheet of zinc or brass or othermetal or metallic all icy. Heretofore the niostcommon practice has beento apply varnish to the plate or sheetinimedietel along the edge of andground, the letter, design, or other character to be made,

and then apply a suitable acid, such as will oat away the metal thusleft uncovered, the coating of varnish being intended to protect themetal outside the edge. In this operation it has been found that theacid sometimes eats under the varnish along the edge of the letter orother space so uncovered, so as to give u slightly-ragged e(lge,'wl1 ichhas to be trimmed down in order to get good work. In the seat thus madethe lettering or ornamentation is done. I v

l have i'ounii that n loyerof tin-foil orotlier soft metal not niiectezlby acids as userl in such work entirely prevents or guards against theliability of the acid.- io out into the metal nrouurl the surface edgeof the letter or other design, and thereby form or produce at ruggededge. In using it I prepare the sign, sheet, or plate in the usual way,and apply a. coating of varnish most conveniently over the part on whichthe letter or other sent is to be made, and for a short distance outsidethe edge of such sentor over the whole plate. On this I lay at sheet orcoating of tin or lead. foil or other suitable soft metal, in a thinsheet, such as is not liable to be attached to any injurious extent bythe acids commonly employed" in such work. The form or outline of thelotion ing, design, monogram, character, or ornumeniut ion is then outin or out of the tin-foil or other metallic coating and out of thevarnish by the use of suitable tools, whereby the face of the metalwhere a letter or other chao acterorrlcsignjs required is laid bare.Thevarnish, however, will not,if the work is done with proper speed,become fully solidified. As a re.- sult of such fact, so much of thetin-foil and var- -=nisl1 as are included within the lines of out willreadily strip off and leave a, border of tin-foil,

or its described equivalent, along outside of each border-line of theletter or other character. The acid is then applied in the ordinaryW215, and left on for the usual length of time, or longer, if necessaryor desired. The subse quent part of the'worlr of making the sign neednot be described, as it forms no part of the present invention. lhemethod of operation thus describedi illustrated in ibc. nccomnsngingqdrawings, wherein- Figure 1 shows a sheet of metal with the coatingsthereon, and it sent for the letter A uncovered therein. Fig. 2 is across-section through 1 in the plane of the liuemze, but with theletter-seat simply uncovered; and Fig. 3 shows l'he some sectional Viewto an enlurgeclseole, but with the soot eaten out.

The sheetineiol plate on which the sign is made represented at B. (trepresents the coating of varnish, illlil b the soft-metal foil. incutting out the foil and varnish, in order to uncover the seal, thesematerials will ordinarily be pressed down, as illustrated at The surfacecilges of the sent to be eaten out by ucios will thus be protected, andthe seats for the letter or other character or design will be eaten out,as at c, to onydesireil depth. Be month the surface the ZIOlLlS may eatoutlatorally to u slight extent; but this will work no injury, as themain point to protect the surface. in fact, {he widening of the bottomof the seat, so at s, will be on nlvuntage, as the material plnceil inthe seat will thereby be held more securely in place.

I have had. this invention in use for some lime, (but for less than twoyears in public,) and have found that, for some reason which I cannotexplain, the tendency of the acid. to eat into the metal edgewise alongthe border-line of the letter or other character or designationnamentetion, as called for; also, the acid need not be removed sopromptly as heretofore, but

maybe left on longer, so as to eat outa deeper seat, and no injury willresult therefrom.

I claim here as my invention- The method of making depressed letters,characters, or-designs for a sign in a metal plate, consisting inapplyinga varnished-coatingto the plate and applying a metallic foilover the varnished coating, and then cutting the design, characters,orlettersthrough the r 5 metal, foil and varnish to the plate, and thenapplying acid on the plate through the design, substantially asdescrihed,and for the purpose set forth.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set 2:

myhand. I

' JOHN F. OLULEY.

Witnesses:

R. H. WmrrLEsEY, 0. L. PARKER.

